The Alternative Factor
by RZZMG
Summary: Unspeakables Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy have recently broken-up due to their careers. One wrong turn and a couple of dimension-hopping brains are about to right that mistake, though. Draco x Hermione/Dramione. Dept. of Mysteries/Space Adventure/Romance/Mystery/Homage to Capt. Kirk & Carol Marcus from 'Star Trek'. 2017 Dramione-Duet Fic Exchange #2 of 2 entry. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**

 **This was my second of two 2017 Dramione-Duet Fic Exchange Fest (dramione-duet . livejournal . com) entries. The fest is long over and reveals are out, so now I can post this for you here. This fanfic is finished. It is a one-shot.**

 _My Duet partner was: Floorcoaster_

 _My prompts for the fest were: space-time adventure, Jupiter, tea, career-minded, cure_

 **Thank you to my beta, gjeangirl, for coming to the rescue at the last minute and helping out – love you to Jupiter and back, dahling!**

 **Thank you to Ningloreth, as always, for being a fantastic Mod and letting me write this gift! **

* * *

**DISCLAIMER:** "Harry Potter" is the property of J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. This fanfiction was written entirely for fun, not for profit, and no copyright infringement is intended.

 **TIMELINE:** A/U Second Wizarding War (1998-2002).

 **MAIN CHARACTERS FEATURED (alphabetical order, last name):** Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger-Malfoy

 **SECONDARY CHARACTERS FEATURED (alphabetical order, last name):** Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Blaise Zabini

 **SUMMARY:** Unspeakables Granger and Malfoy have recently broken-up due to their careers. One wrong turn and a couple of dimension-hopping brains are about to right that mistake, though.

 **RATING:** PG-13 (T)

 **WARNINGS:** Breaking-up, unintended pregnancy, some giggle moments, some sad moments

 **EXTRA NOTES:** There are blatant references to the 'Star Trek' universe in this fic. See end notes, final chapter for more.

* * *

 _ **THE ALTERNATIVE FACTOR**_

 _ **By: RZZMG**_

* * *

One wrong turn can make things right. At least, that's what my mother had always told me.

Unfortunately, her wisdom hadn't held up in practice on the day I'd taken a turn through the _wrong_ blue door and crashed into the person coming out at that exact moment.

That one wrong turn had turned into a nightmare for two.

Or so I'd thought at the time…

 ***.*.***

The two new brains had been mating when I'd come to work this morning and checked in on them.

Apparently, one had squidged out of its container and cozied up to another, and now their tentacles were entwined and they were vibrating as their grey matter pulsed a variety of colours like some sort of Muggle disco lighting set.

Flabbergasted, I'd turned to my friend and co-worker, Luna, who was still caught up in the first blush of the newlywed, having married only four months prior. She'd gone red-faced, too.

She worked in the Time Chamber across the hall from me, and had been the one to bring me these two particular brains a few days ago. She said they'd come from a pair of explorers who had been caught in something called a 'temporal rift'. Apparently, the bodies they'd inhabited couldn't take the strain of crossing over from a parallel dimension. The two people had died within minutes of entering our world. With the help of my department head here in the Brain Chamber, however, their brains had been salvaged for our study.

My supervisor had appointed them to me as my first actual lead assignment with the Department of Mysteries, with the caveat that I was to share any and all information equally with our friends over in Time…hence the reason Luna was here with me today.

"That's interesting," she confessed in that dreamy quality that was her signature tone as she watched the brains touching tentacles like long-lost lovers comforting one another. "Do you suppose we should interrupt them?"

Turning back to the tank with the copulating brains, I sighed. "No, we should break out the cameras and start the data recording. This is one for posterity."

Luna giggled. "It's terribly romantic, isn't it?" She looked up at me with those big, owlish eyes of her and smiled with a lamb's innocence. "It reminds me a little of my honeymoon."

I shuddered. The last thing I needed was images of Luna and Neville having hot, freaky brain sex.

 ***.*.***

Much later, the brains came up for air, figuratively speaking.

I wasn't there when it happened, but once I arrived, I was able to easily pull their canister away from the main tank and completely isolate them from the others. Our department head had said he didn't want whatever they were doing to catch on with the rest of the brains.

Personally, I thought it too late for that. The way the others had swarmed to that one side of the tank, as if they could mentally peek at the aberrant action happening next door told me they were more aware of the situation than any of us was comfortable admitting. I just hoped I wouldn't come in tomorrow morning to find them all in copycat mode, engaged in a not-so-discreet tête-a-tentacle marathon.

Taking the isolated tank out of the Brain Room, I'd intended to cross the hallway to the Love Room, to test a theory about compatibility being driven more by mental compatibility than physical. Unfortunately, I let the door to the Brain Room accidentally close behind me and as a result, the round Entrance Chamber began to spin.

The rotation was necessary for secrecy's sake, to prevent visitors from remembering which room they'd exited, but it never failed to make me dizzy and nauseated. I had to close my eyes to avoid projectile vomiting all over the tank in my hands—something that would definitely put a crimp the post-coital lethargy that the two well-satiated brains were currently enjoying.

When I felt the room stop whirling, I opened my eyes, turned around, and picked the nearest door to orient myself, moving through it quickly…

…and collided hard with someone stepping out at that exact moment.

We both tumbled to the floor in a tangle of limbs, the canister in my hands crashing with us and popping open.

I looked up, mortified at my lack of coordination, apologizing profusely.

"Your knee is in my nads," a man growled, and it was only then that I recognised that I'd fallen atop my ex-boyfriend, Draco Malfoy, as he was leaving the Space Chamber, where he worked. "Kindly get off, Granger. Gently!"

I moved my knee. "Sorry," I said again for the tenth time, positively horrified that I was touching _him_ again. We'd hardly spoken a word to each other since our break-up six months ago, just a week after I'd begun working here at his recommendation, and now here I was, sprawled atop him in a way that made me startling aware of him again all at once.

As quickly as I could, I climbed to my feet and stepped back. "I'm a little dizzy right now."

With a grunt, Draco sat up and rubbed the back of his head where he'd obviously bumped it. "I think that's my line," he admitted with a wince.

"It was the spinning room," I said in way of explanation. "It always makes me sick."

"You'd do terrible in Space, then," he joked, looking up at me from the floor. "Everything's always moving in here."

I was quiet for a moment in the face of that reminder that we worked in different Chambers and for a very good reason. "Yes, well, it's not as if our interests lie in the same direction anyway," I groused. "It's better this way."

I looked for the canister I'd been carrying. It was on the floor across the room, and the lid was open.

The brains were missing.

"Oh, Merlin!" I swore and hurried over to it. "They're gone!"

"Who?"

Malfoy got to his feet and came over to me. He stood unnaturally close, so much so that I was uncomfortable with how little space there was between us.

"The interdimensional brains," I wailed, panic starting to take hold of me. "They were inside the canister. They're my first big assignment, Draco! I'll lose my job if…" I turned to him, desperate. "They'll perish without their nutrient fluid! I can't let them die!"  
I whipped out my wand and prepared to do an _Accio_ to retrieve them, but Draco's hand seized mine before I could complete the spell.

"You can't use magic in the Space Chamber," he warned. "You'll disrupt the model."

He pointed all around us to the model of the solar system which was, even then, magically turning in its precisely calculated arc to mimic the real thing far, _far_ above our heads in the vacuum of space. Planets and their moons rotated around a solar model with a replica sun at its centre. It was mesmerizing, I had to admit.

"We have to find them quickly then. They'll expire quickly without their magical solution to hydrate them. We'll lose so much information about parallel universes if they die," I told him, already putting my wand up and beginning to move deeper into the room. "And I'll be fired for sure," I added again.

Draco was at my side in an instant. "Stick close to me then," he instructed and took my hand. "Step where I step, move how I move." He looked down at me and stressed, "Whatever you do, don't cross the glowing magical lines that show the planet paths." He pointed to the illuminated gold ellipses. "They're all that's holding this whole model up and keeping it moving. It could bring the whole thing down on us if we disrupt them."

I let him lead us around the model, which stretched from one end of the room to the other. Fortunately, traversing under the golden threads of the planets proved to be relatively easy, as they were, more or less, in a planar orbit around the sun. It was the smaller, non-planetary bodies that held us up: the asteroids, comets, and various moons that encircled the planets. If nudged by accident, they could spin off in a different direction entirely and threaten the model, too. Having to dodge them was unnerving. Meanwhile, every half a step we took forward, every pause only heightened my anxiety, as I keenly felt time ticking away, and knew the brains wouldn't have long before they dried out.

The urgency of their plight caused me to fret terribly. It made my hands sweaty.

Draco stopped and turned to me. He leant much too close for my sanity as he whispered, "Calm down, Granger. We'll find them. This room's the biggest one in Mysteries, but it's only _so_ big."

We moved on at a slow, careful pace. The minutes passed by too quickly for my taste.

Suddenly, to my left, something made a squicky, wet sound as it slapped across the floor. From my peripheral vision, I saw movement. "There!" I shouted in excitement at having found at least one of my lost charges, and in desperation to get the brain back into a tank to save its life, I broke the cardinal rule: I didn't obey the established rules.

Letting Draco's hand go, I stood up from my crouch and dove in the direction of the brain, managing to catch it.

"Got it!"

Next to it was the second brain. They were holding tentacles.

"The other's here, too!" I said, sitting up and cradling the brains to my chest. "Quick, get their tank!"

The entire room shook like an earthquake of magnitude five or better.

"Granger, look out!"

I looked up…only to find Jupiter falling straight towards me.

Hunching over into a ball, my last thought was to protect the brains.

* * *

 _ **TO BE CONTINUED...**_


	2. Chapter 2

***.*.***

I must have fallen asleep at my console again.

Bleary eyed and wooly-headed, I pushed my cheek off the keyboard and struggled through the fog of exhaustion that gripped me in its teeth to sit up.

"Hell," I swore while rubbing at my face, feeling a million shades of misery. "What hit me?"

The computer activated at my voice, turning on. The screen in front of me flashed, 'GOOD MORNING, DOCTOR' in big happy letters as the A.I. logged my voice print and recognised me, wagging its digital tail like an overly-excited puppy.

"Yeah, morning," I mumbled, getting my elbows under me and pushing myself into a vertical position.

The room spun. I groaned and sat back in my chair, rubbing the sides of my head, trying to remember why I'd felt like Horta poo and why I hadn't just taken my bum to bed last night, rather than hide out here in the science lab's office. I couldn't recall.

That was never a good thing.

I wouldn't have been drinking, that much I knew. Had I pulled an all-night work bender again? A distinct possibility.

I checked the clock on the wall.

2:24 a.m.

We went by Command's time here on the ship, which was set to Earth-Pacific Standard.

"It's the middle of the night," I growled at the computer.

"TECHNICALLY, IT IS MORNING, DOCTOR" it wrote back.

"Don't get cheeky."

It had nothing to say to that. Colloquialisms weren't the computer's strong point.

"What star system are we in right now?" I asked it.

"SOL, DOCTOR."

Ah, so we were almost home. Thank the Maker. I desperately needed some time away…from _him_.

"PASSING JUPITER, STARBOARD SIDE, DOCTOR."

I opened the blast shield over the small window in the office to take in the view of the largest planet in my home system. The lab had an even better view, as its window took up practically an entire wall, but I wasn't ready yet to face the staff that might be out there, working the graveyard shift tonight. My hands were still a little unsteady and it felt like cotton had been packed in tight between my ears.

My favourite planet was as awe-inspiring as usual as the ship moved past it on impulse power. Giant bands of cyclonic-tossed colour streaked its surface as several million years of angry storms rolled on through its atmosphere. Its gossamer rings—not as impressive as those belonging to Saturn, but inspiring nonetheless—were all that remained of its former moons Thebe and Amalthea, which were finally exploded a hundred years before by a massive, rogue comet entering the system and colliding with first one, then the other.

To my disappointment, we were past the dramatic giant in a matter of minutes, and moving on towards the centre of the system, towards the Terran home world. Towards the Spacedock that orbited it, where we'd park the ship until we had new orders.

Just like that, I suddenly remembered why I was eager to arrive at our destination: Draco…the breakup a month ago…the recent test results…

Dashing a round of tears from my eyes, I closed the metal window shade and turned back to the computer.

"Mirror, please."

The screen changed to a reflective surface.

Good lord, I looked like I'd been through one of Jupiter's tempests right then!

Reaching into the desk drawer, I pulled out a brush and ran it through my hair. Then, I grabbed a tube of lip colour from that same drawer and applied a little to my thin mouth. I pinched my cheeks.

A little better, at least.

As I got up to make my way through the lab to head for my quarters, I straightened my spine and steadied my resolve. Admiral Zabini _had_ to approve my transfer request. He had no discernable reason not to, as my record had been exemplary and my ambitions clearly defined. It would benefit Command for me to be on a vessel or station or planet dedicated strictly to research.  
And truthfully, I didn't think I could stand another year here aboard _his_ ship.

I pressed a hand over my flat belly.

More importantly, I didn't have that kind of time.

 ***.*.***

I watched the Earth get smaller as we headed back out of the system and struggled not to feel so terribly disappointed.

My transfer had been denied.

Worse, I was going to be required to work not only on a new project for Command while on board for the next few weeks, but to aid the ship's crew once we reached our destination: Deneva Prime. Apparently, the colony was suffering from an infestation of deadly neural parasites and Command could spare no one else at the moment to deliver the vaccine. So, we'd turned around almost immediately after reaching Spacedock and headed back out into deep space.

Shore leave effectively cancelled. All hands on deck.

I tried hard not to feel so bitter about the fact that the Admiral hadn't even seen fit to review my petition, and not to sound so terribly selfish overall. I mean, _of course_ , the possibility of a colony-wide plague took precedence over my personal issues. People's _lives_ were at risk. In comparison, what was a little experimenting with variants of the vaccine we were carrying, and an unexpected pregnancy?

Sighing as I watched us pass by Jupiter once more—its angry red eye glaring at me this time, as if censuring me for my thoughts—I knew there was no more time for denials. My petition to be reassigned had been rejected, and so I was stuck here, facing _him_ every day for the next few weeks until we got to Deneva Prime, keenly aware that what Draco and I had was over on one level, but would never be on another. I'd been avoiding that ugly truth for weeks, and the repercussions had been steep: trouble sleeping, difficulty focusing, and subpar work results.

I was going to have to face the big pink elephant in the room, even if it was now the straw that broke the camel's back: I was in love with our Captain.

Still.

Always.

And I was eight weeks pregnant with his child.

He didn't know about either awkward situation, thankfully, and I was still very much on the fence about telling him the latter, truthfully, as I wasn't sure how he'd take it. He'd been the one doing the breaking-up in our relationship, after all.

 _"We can't see each other anymore."_

 _"Why not?"_

 _"Command has heard the rumours about us, and they reiterated that no fraternization between unmarried officers of our rank was allowed while on board."_

 _"No fraternization?_ _For the Maker's sake, Draco, we've already done that and more! For the past three months, we've 'fraternized' enough to shake your bed right off the bloody ship! You can't be serious!"_

 _"Hermione… Look, this is better, isn't it? We both have the careers we always wanted. Would you really risk losing your chance to someday be a Chief Scientist at Command Headquarters? Besides, you belong with the brainy-types and I'm meant for the endless dark of space, and we both know it. That's…that's always been our fate."_

Just like that, it had ended. He'd returned to his duties as Captain, and I'd gone back to being the Mission Specialist on the ship.

He'd handled the end of our whirlwind romance better than I had, I could admit. I'd found it increasingly difficult to be so constantly near Draco and to know he didn't want me anymore, while he'd given me passing smiles and friendly nods. He'd treated me with cool, respectful professionalism.

And now I was pregnant, and he didn't know…and frankly, I was beginning to think I didn't want him to.

Maybe once the mission at Deneva Prime was done, I could find an excuse to stay there. I would be showing in another three months, so it would be best if I took a sabbatical for a while…

I turned from the bay window back to my desk and sat down at it to read over the data reports, determined not to give in to my tears again. The numbers blurred before me until the twos and fours looked like they were one meshed symbol blending together, though, and I set the briefing down knowing what would come next.

I slapped my hands over my eyes, embarrassed by the depth of my despair. "I want to go home," I quietly sobbed. The glass in my office was soundproof, but this confession felt too raw even to share with the air. "I want this nightmare to end."

The computer beeped at me, and I peeked between my fingers at it.

"DO YOU REQUIRE TEA, DOCTOR? IT HELPS TO CALM ONE'S DELICATE NERVES."

Delicate.

As 'in a delicate way'.

Bloody hell, the _computer_ knew.

I cried harder.

* * *

 ** _TO BE CONTINUED..._**


	3. Chapter 3

***.*.***

At Spacedock, for that one day we'd been up, Command had quickly and quietly installed a new translocation assay in the science lab and given me my orders in regards to its use: we were to fiddle with the vaccine we were carrying in an attempt to prepare for possible mutation variables on planet. Apparently, they were concerned that the strain of neural parasite on Deneva Prime was different from what they'd seen before, at least according to the field reports they'd received.

How different, I couldn't seem to get anyone at Command to tell me, however. I was flying blind, and so had to come up with a variety of possibilities, given what was known of the colony's environment and its usual cadre of visitors.

I looked up at the clock on the wall.

2:24 p.m.

One more hour until tea.

My stomach rumbled. I'd skipped lunch, because I hadn't wanted to see _him_ today.

In fact, I'd gone out of my way over the last five days since we'd left the Terran system to not have to interact with Draco, except on the most urgent of business. I sent my reports to him via computer and kept our communication to the comm. I skipped staff meals and ate in my quarters or in my office, usually replicator food, which wasn't as nutritious as what they served in the Mess Hall, but it did the trick. He didn't come down to see me in the lab, and I didn't go to the bridge.

Perfect stalemate.

I left my lonely office then for the distraction of the busy lab, determined not to wallow in self-pity for the remainder of the day. These pregnancy hormones were worse than I'd been told to expect, and I was up and down more often that a kangaroo on a long hop. Better not to be alone when I was a beat away from bursting into tears.

Two members of my staff, Luna and Neville, newly married and as mad for each other as they were for their jobs, were working in competition on twin vaccine variants nearby, one that came at the parasite from the phytological aspect and another from the zoological aspect.

"Good news, Doctor, the plant-based variant seems to have a lethality rate for the parasites of seventy-six percent," Neville stated as I approached his bench and observed.

"That is _very_ promising. That still leaves a twenty-four percent margin of error, however," I pointed out, absently noting how those two numbers—2 and 4, in that order—seemed to keep cropping up lately. "Can you account for it?"

I listened as Neville explained where he believed the altered vaccine failed, and offered him advice on how to tweak up its rate of success. He beamed at me and got back to work.

As I considered the problem, I made my way back to my office.

"I was right, it seems."

I whirled to find Captain Malfoy at my office door. His deep, rich voice was a familiar caress that made me shiver, his crooked smile an unintentional lure to my libido.

"You were made for this work, Hermione," he said, speaking my name with a hushed sort of reserve, almost reverence. "Cutting edge science is in your blood."

Stifling my imprudent reactions to him and mentally reinforcing the wall I'd silently built up between us all these weeks, I dropped my attention to the report on my desk, pretending at busy work. "Thank you. Is there something I can help you with, Captain?" I asked. "I am rather busy at the moment."

My tone was clipped and professional, and easier to hide behind.

"I just came to see how your work was progressing," he said, less reactionary than I'd have liked. He was trying for personable, while I was prodding for anger. "Seeing if you needed anything?"

"The lab is fully stocked, thank you. We've had some positive results so far," I stated, picking up the techpad and swiping across the screen to bring up other notes, trying to look official. Nothing I was doing was actual work; it was all a ruse, buying time to avoid looking up at him, hoping he'd take the hint and leave. "Two of the last six trials have been successful. We're still trying to understand why four failed, however."

Again, two and four.

Those numbers in that particular sequence was becoming quite the odd coincidence…

"Four failed?" he asked in a playful tone, and I could feel the air shift as he moved closer. "That's hardly like you. You're usually a 'total success' kind of woman."

"I try," I replied and continued to swipe through the project notes, pretending to read them. "Is there something else I can help you with, Captain? As I said, I have a lot of work to accomplish before the day's done."

He was quiet for an awkward minute in the face of that admonishment.

"You won't even look at me anymore."

Steeling my nerves, I set the techpad down and looked up at him. It was harder than I'd expected to meet those lovely grey eyes I'd fallen into more than once, harder still not to flinch. Somehow, though, I accomplished it.

"I'm busy," I reiterated, but that was about all I could push past my tight throat at that moment.

His frown was pronounced, and the regret in his eyes unfeigned. "I know," he softly replied and sighed, shoving a hand through his hair and pushing it back off his face. "That's my fault, too. I just wanted‒"

I stood up and turned my back on him, looking out the window at the empty space before me, needing to put as much of the same kind of void behind me as possible. "I know what you wanted and we both know you got it, so you can stop the prevaricating," I said, feeling the rush of anger replacing my hesitancy. "I'm here, right where you arranged it, and my transfer request is in the bin." I glared at his reflection in the glass. "Did you really think I wouldn't guess why Admiral Zabini refused to see me? As I recall, you were old friends back in school."

He didn't bother denying it. "You're the most brilliant microbiologist in four quadrants, Hermione. This ship needs you. _Deneva Prime_ needs you‒"

I scoffed. "Well, it seems everything's worked out then, hasn't it? Not only did you manage to recruit me to your team five months ago with a few sly words and some convincing moves, but now you get to keep me here, too, at least until the mission is done. And curing Deneva Prime…I think we both know that will bring a nice, shiny pip to your collar. A very well-laid plan, Draco. Excellently done."

And all it cost was my heart.

"Hermione, it wasn't like that. I‒"

"Don't bother," I said, turning quickly and waving off the rest of what he'd intended to say. "You said it already: your career is everything. I get that, probably better than most. My career is all I have now. Let's just leave it there."

My ex seemed to struggle with the desire to explain himself. Predictably, though, he kept his mouth shut.

That was Draco Malfoy all over, wasn't it: playing his cards close to his chest, poker-faced to the end.

"When the pandemic is over and we're back at Spacedock, though, you're going to contact the Admiral and convince him to assign me elsewhere," I told him, not brooking any debate. He'd tricked me to keep me here, but I wouldn't be tethered to him under the circumstances. All that would do was break my heart in half every day, until there was nothing left of me. "I want off this ship."

He looked crestfallen, as if I'd taken the wind from his sails. "Where will you go?"

I shook my head, turning back to look out into the blackness of space. "Anywhere. Maybe Regula One. They're looking for a new microbiologist." In the reflection of the glass, I watched as my mouth turned down with the same kind of bitterness that haunts every woman after she's been defeated by a bout of inconvenient feelings for a lover. "Maybe there, among my own kind…among the brains, as you said…maybe I can find a new life."

Draco was quiet for a long while, before he said, "I'm sorry, Hermione. I only wanted to see you continue doing what you loved. And I thought you could do great things here, but… Maybe you're right. Maybe it's better that we sever all such ties."

The hiss of the door shutting behind him a moment later was my cue that he'd run away from awkward emotions once more.

By remaining silent about my pregnancy, I'd done the same.

 ***.*.***

"How's your project coming?" I asked Luna, coming up alongside her and glancing at her work screen, which showed her attempt at engineering a better vaccine from her particular angle of expertise.

She pressed a few circles on the screen and a nutrient fluid was injected into the sample below. The results were reflected on the monitor before us: her sample turned blue. "Negative, so far, it seems."

I patted her shoulder. "Keep trying. Maybe we'll find a breakthrough on both ends that can meet in the middle."

She glanced at me with owlish eyes. "That could be true for you and the Captain, too, you know."

I jerked back and felt my cheeks burn.

Great, my co-worker knew about me and Draco now, too. Just perfect.

"Neville and I are working together, after all," she reminded me. "He wanted to stay on Earth, but I wanted to explore the cosmos. We compromised and asked Command to keep us assigned to the same ship for the next five years, after which we'll accept an assignment on a terrestrial planet for five years, and then switch off again."

"But that will limit you both, won't it?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Our careers are fulfilling, but they're only a part of our lives, Hermione. They're the part that's for us alone. The other half is for each other." Her smile was soft and secret as she glanced at her husband over her shoulder. He was engrossed in his work, oblivious to our discussion, thankfully. "I wasn't willing to have the first at the sacrifice of the second. Thus, compromise."

"I…I've never been very good at such a thing," I admitted.

"You're a perfectionist," Luna agreed. "But ask yourself this: is the quest for perfection worth a lifetime of unhappiness?"

I wasn't sure how to reply, so I concentrated on the work before us. Luna seemed to understand my need to ruminate over the perspective she'd dropped like a bombshell into my lap.

As usual, the work kept me well distracted.

 ***.*.***

A vaccine is only as good as preventing an outbreak, but a cure…that's every researcher's dream, as it could turn the tide of any pandemic by eliminating the threat all together, even in those already infected.

Oddly enough, it had been Luna and Neville working together to discover our cure to Deneva Prime's neural parasite problem: bioluminescent arthropods and specific cave-dwelling plants native to Deneva Prime were naturally immune to the parasite's attempts to infect them. When we extrapolated out why that might be, we discovered that ultraviolet wavelengths killed the parasite on contact.

From there, it was easy enough to convince Engineering to create a mechanism that was very similar to a radiation arch. It zapped people with a low level of UV radiation when they walked through it. The parasite died, but didn't harm the infected. Then, we assured there would be no chance of a repeat by inoculating everyone with the vaccine we'd gotten from Command.

It had taken days and a lot of rigging by the various tech types to make it happen, but in the end, everyone had been rendered immune to the parasite's influence, with only very little loss of life attributed to the outbreak.

"This was worth it," Draco said as the last residents of Deneva Prime stepped through the arch and received their shots. At my side, he looked mighty pleased with himself. "I don't mind cancelled shore leave when there's a happy ending like this one."

"Yes, it was worth it," I agreed, utterly worn out from the entire episode. It seemed pregnancy was also incredibly taxing on my energy reserves, not just my emotions. "Permission to return to the ship, sir," I requested, holding my techpad close to my chest. "I've reports to send to Command about our findings and success here."

Draco looked disappointed in my leaving. "There's to be a celebration dinner at the Governor's mansion tonight. Formal dress, dinner and dancing. I'd…hoped you'd attend."

I declined the offer. "Thank you, but I think it best I get these reports done as soon as possible and get some sleep."

He straightened, as if just then realising how tired I looked. "Yes, of course. You've been working at an accelerated pace since we left Spacedock. Get some rest."

"Thank you, sir."

I returned to the ship, and despite my insistence on working tonight, I found I just hadn't the heart when I sat to record my thoughts, so I gave up the ghost. Retiring to my quarters instead, I took a long, hot shower, and then snuggled into bed and gave in to my exhaustion. My dreams were not pleasant, however. They were haunted with thoughts of a future unknown, of decisions unmade, and of words unspoken.

It took me several days to finish my reports. By that time, we were re-entering the Terran system.

* * *

 ** _TO BE CONTINUED..._**


	4. Chapter 4

***.*.***

I stood at the window in my office and watched as Saturn came into sight, its magnificent rings hailing to all space-farers of Earth origin that home was but a step away.

The message from Admiral Zabini had just come through my comm a few minutes ago: I was being transferred to the Reliant, who would be taking me on to Regula One where I'd join the team as Chief Microbiologist.

"I suppose congratulations are in order," Draco said from behind me. "Regula One is, as I understand it, to be one of the foremost research stations in the quadrant."

Taking a deep breath and fortifying my courage, I turned and smiled at him. "Yes, thank you. I appreciate you fulfilling your end of the bargain."

He shrugged, as casual as could be, but I could sense his underlying nervousness, especially as he came forward and fiddled with the large Spican flame gem that served as the only decoration on my desk. "I'm happy if I can help you fulfill your dreams, Hermione."

I considered those words carefully before asking, "And what if my dream could change? What if…I really could have it all?"

Draco stared at me for a long while, but whatever he was thinking, it was fathomless to me. We'd changed over the last two months, and I couldn't read his expressions anymore. He'd grown too good at hiding from me since we'd last laughed freely together.

"You'd always wonder what you'd missed by altering course," he told me.

God help me, he was right.

Luna's way wouldn't work for Draco and me. We were pioneers, not dreamers, and there was too much perfectionism in our spines to settle for anything less than every single one of Heaven's secrets.

I wouldn't be telling him about the pregnancy…at least, not yet. He'd insist our baby enlist in the Academy while still wearing booties, and I never wanted that kind of life for my child. I wanted our son—because he was a boy, according to the medi-comp—to live in my world, not gallivanting off into the cosmos chasing stars and fighting wars, like his father.

I smiled at Draco and held out a hand for him to take.

He came easily to me, and our palms met and mated in what would be, I knew, the last time.

"Watch Jupiter rise with me?" I asked, knowing we had at least enough time for that goodbye.

We turned to the window and for a few minutes, ignored the rest of the universe and its cares. He held me in his arms from behind, and together we watched my favourite planet as it rose like a great thundering god from the sea of darkness, eclipsing all others in its might.

 ***.*.***

I woke up crying.

"Hermione?"

I recognised the voice as belonging to Neville.

"Neville, go get the Healer," Luna instructed him with some urgency.

A nearby door opened and closed just as quickly, and footsteps hurried away down the hall.

"Hermione, are you alright?" my friend asked, coming into view above me. She looked down on me with the most concern I'd ever seen reflected in her dreamy gaze. "Your brain is dying, I'm sorry to say." She turned to the side and sighed. "They both are."

I turned my head, feeling something heavy sitting upon it, weighing it down.

"Wha-?"

I reached for it.

Someone took my hand and stopped me.

"Don't move, Granger."

Draco's voice was raw, as if he'd been crying, too. When I glimpsed sideways at him, I could see the tracks of his tears down his cheeks.

There was a brain sitting on his head.

"You've got the other on top of yours," he said in way of explanation with a sad, crooked smile. In a sly move, his fingers entwined with mine. "It's squashing down your feral hair. You look silly."

"You do, too," I said without any bark to my bite. I was simply too disoriented by the situation to know how to react. Perhaps I'd gone into shock. "You look as if you have a giant blueberry on your head." I frowned. "A blueberry with squid-y tentacles."

His eyes widened. "Blue?"

"Yes," Luna confirmed, coming to sit by our side on the bed. Apparently, Draco and I were lying side by side on a queen-sized mattress in a room that was far too white and smelled terribly of bleach. "I'm afraid they're dying now," she said, sounding quite melancholy.

"Dying?" I reached up with my free hand to pluck the brain off my skull. I brought it to my chest. "Where's their nutrient solution? We could-"

My friend could only shake her head. "They didn't want it. They wanted to be free. It's their time."

Next to me, Draco captured the brain on his head and held it as I did, cradling it carefully. "Is that why they legged it? Er, tentacled it…whatever you call it."

"Yes, I believe they were hoping to expire together, under the stars."

I looked up at Luna. "Under the… You mean in the Space Chamber?"

"You saw their memories, Hermione. You know where they came from," she explained. "It would make sense, wouldn't it? Their last memory together as a couple was them looking out into space."

"Jupiter," both Draco and I said at the same time.

I looked at him. "So, you saw it, too?"

Slowly, he nodded.

"Wait, how had it been _their_ memories we were seeing, as I was _me_ in the dream," I pointed out to Luna, finding a flaw in the theory. "And Draco was just as he looks now, as were you and Neville."

My friend and fellow Unspeakable seemed to have a silent moment of communication with the brains in the room, and I didn't mean me and or my ex. She nodded, as if someone was speaking to her, but I heard no one else aside from the voices in the hallway beyond.

From his expression as he watched her talking to herself, apparently neither did Draco.

"I don't quite understand it all," Luna admitted to them at last, coming to some sort of consensus with our disembodied friends in the room, "but it seems that the brains worked together to keep you alive and from going insane. And they shared a piece of their personal history with you both, so their story wouldn't be forgotten."

At my confused look, she tried again.

"When you disrupted the model of the solar system in the Space Chamber, Hermione, it came crashing down upon you. The brains were in your arms at that moment. You hunched over to shield them with your body."

"I did?"

I didn't recall doing that, but then that entire event was still a bit too hazy in my mind.

"Yes, and then Draco threw himself on top of you to shield you from the worst of the falling debris. However, the weight of the Jupiter replica crushed both your skulls. The damage was extensive."

I gasped as Draco broke out in an extensive string of rather creative profanity.

We'd both nearly died!

Luna waited patiently for my ex-boyfriend to finish his tirade, and then she continued. "When the St. Mungo's staff arrived to move you both to the hospital, they found the brains were latched onto you both and onto each other. The four of you were linked, and no one knew how to pull you apart without killing any of you. Also, according to the Healers, whatever the brains were doing to you was keeping _your_ brains active and sending out all the right signals to keep you alive. That allowed the Healers to work on repairing your bodies."

I was almost afraid to ask. "How long were we out?"

"You were both unconscious for a month."

There was that combination again: two and four. Two people, four weeks…

It had been the exact amount of time between the break-up of the lovers in the memory, and their sorrowful _adieu_ before the window in the science lab's office, as they'd watched her favourite planet send them off.

Jupiter…

I groaned aloud as my head started to clear and the obvious metaphor came together: Jupiter's astronomical symbol looked like a two and a four combined.

The planet that had witnessed the end of one couple, and nearly the _definitive_ end of another had been a clear harbinger of doom.

Ironic.

"And the memories they shared with us?" Draco asked, indicating the brain in his arms. "Those were really _their_ memories of each other?"

"Mmm," Luna concurred. "As for why we all appeared as we are in those memories, I believe the brains anchored your subconscious to the familiar so they could trick them into believing that what you experienced was a dream."

"And Draco and I acted out their story in it together," I concluded. "One last chance to say goodbye."

"Or maybe it was more than that," he said, looking thoughtful as he considered the creature that was slowly dying in his hands. "Maybe…it was a warning."

A warning? What could they possibly be cautioning us against? "About what, an attack of parasites from another universe?" I asked.

Draco shook his head. "I got the impression that they both regretted choosing their careers over each other," he said, very frankly. It was a first, as I knew my ex was Slytherin to his core, and as such, he never gave away too much information, including his thoughts—at least, not without a price. I had a feeling I would be paying it in a few moments when he finished his speculation, though. "They were both so prideful, so discontent with their lives, and yet they threw away the one thing that had made them both feel grounded and whole for a while, all for their careers."

" _He_ threw her away," I bitterly pointed out. "She was pregnant and wanted to stay with him."

Draco's gaze cut to mine at that, and I could see his shock and dismay at the revelation.

That upset me. "You mean you…I mean, _he_ never knew?"

"I… _he_ …didn't know you… _she_ …was carrying our… _their_ child."

For some reason, that made me sad.

"I wonder if she ever told him."

He turned his head back to me. "I know he didn't give you… _her_ up easily. He did it for love, Hermione. He knew she was destined for great things, and he knew that where he was headed, into the great unknown, he'd be going into combat, most likely. He didn't want her to die, so he sent her away."

"But he didn't," I argued. "He sabotaged her chance for a transfer!"

Draco frowned. "He…he found after he'd said the words that he wasn't ready to let her go, even though he knew he had to. He was hoping for just a few more months. Just to be near her for a little longer until he was forced to leave the quadrant and head into deep space. He'd planned to have her transferred before then." He glanced up at me through wet lashes. "He'd loved her. She was his soul."

The room got hot, my vision went wavy.

"She'd loved him the same, but was so hurt by his rejection."

We both, I think, understood that our relationship had been much the same, our reasons too similar to excuse as mere coincidence any longer.

To my surprise, the brain in my hands weakly reached across to the other brain situated on Draco's chest. His brain was similarly stretching out one tired tentacle to the female in my arms. I helped them to touch one last time.

As one, they shuddered, turned a shade of dull grey, and died, still holding on to each other.

I burst into tears, and next to me, so did Draco.

We turned on our sides towards each other, huddled close, holding the dead brains between us, and when he reached out to take my hand in his, I held onto him for dear life.

 ***.*.***

One wrong turn can make a right, my mother had always said.

Had it not been for the wrong turn into the Space Chamber that afternoon eight weeks earlier, I'd have missed my chance for a do-over with Draco…and so it seemed my mum had been proven right once more.

The brains had taught Draco and me a valuable lesson through the sorrow of their lives: if the love is true, there was always room for compromise. We learned from the mistakes of our mystery friends from another universe and had decided that we would find a way to continue to be together, despite Ministry regulations.

Funny enough, the answer had been staring me in the face the whole time I'd been dreaming: Luna and Neville had been married and working in the same lab, able to move around assignments together.

So, Draco and I were married in a quiet ceremony a week after we got out of hospital, and the Ministry could not deny us a place as Unspeakables who worked and lived together. And due to our unique inter-spacial relationship with the two dimension jumpers, we were even allowed to work on inter-department projects with each other and Luna. Time, Brains, Love, and Space _all_ came together for the first time to solve some of the most complex questions the wizarding world had been asking for centuries.

As for the brains… Draco and I had agreed that the Ministry wouldn't be allowed to dissect them for further research. The two had deserved a proper burial, and we'd given it to them on the grounds of Malfoy Manor, with Luna and Neville standing as witnesses.

"It's a shame we don't have names for the headstones," I said, conjuring a ring of roses for both graves.

"Oh, but we do," Luna said, wide-eyed and sincere. "They told us when they first crossed over through the time-rift, before their bodies died."

I looked at Draco. He gave my hand an excited, small squeeze. He wanted to put some names to the brains, too.

"Well, who were they?" I prompted.

"Carol and James." My friend gave me a happy smile and pointed to my belly. "I think one of those would be a nice name for your baby, don't you?"

I blanched. "How did you-? I mean, I just found out this morning!"

Luna gave me her famous enigmatic smile, the one that tended to put me on guard immediately. "Somethings aren't mere coincidence, Hermione," she told me. "Time has a habit of repeating itself until eventually someone gets it right, you know." She checked her wind-up wrist watch, a relic from some other era. "Speaking of… Oh, look, it's 2:24. Time for tea!" She took her husband's arm. "Can we try that new café that sells finger sandwiches that glow only in that special purple light again? I really liked that place."

As Draco and I watched the two walk off to the edge of his property, he turned to me.

"So…James or Carol?"

I blinked up at him. "For some reason, I don't know why…I was thinking…David, actually."

He smiled. "David James Malfoy it is."

We agreed, and hurried to catch up with our friends.

 **.**

 _ **~FIN~**_

 **.**

* * *

 **Author's Final Notes:**

 **The dream-memory sequence in this fic takes place entirely in the "Star Trek" universe. The female brain is Doctor Carol Marcus and the male brain is Captain James T. Kirk. In ST canon, Carol and James had a brief, but passionate romance that had resulted in her getting pregnant and giving birth to a son named David. She and Kirk had split before the son's birth because their careers pulled them in two different directions. It was amicable, but it is also clear that they'd regretted the split and their feelings for one another never really faded over time, despite the fact they both moved on with their lives. Carol raised David as a single mother, and he followed in her footsteps and became a scientist, while James went on to become legendary for his space travels.**

 **"The Alternative Factor" (the name of this fic) is borrowed from the name of an episode in the ST original series. 'Command' is in reference to Starfleet Command, 'Academy' is in reference to Starfleet Academy, the spaceship they fly around in is the ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701), Spacedock and Regula One are both canon lore space stations mentioned in 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan", a Horta is a creature in ST canon, Deneva Prime is a planet in the "Star Trek" (original series) TV canon—and, yes, the planet did suffer a neural parasitic infection that was devastating to their population and ultraviolet radiation was the only thing that worked to kill the parasites in that story. I capitalized on all of that ST universe lore to create this fic.**

 _ **Disclaimer: 'Star Trek' is trademarked by Gene Roddenberry, CBS, and Paramount Pictures. This fic was written entirely for fun, not for profit, and no copyright infringement is intended.**_

 **The 'special purple light' Luna refers to there at the end is an ultraviolet lamp, FYI.**

 **The symbol for Jupiter looks like a stylized number '2' and '4' put together.**


End file.
